Everyday Stories #2
World Prematurity Day
The boundary lines
“The nurse imagined premature babies
in twenty, thirty, forty years.
Poets, astronauts, heads of state, zoologists.
At least on one occasion
they would be lost
in an incorrectly sized box.
Inside an artificial world,
without caresses,
without support points to lift it.”
(from “Come una bambina”)
There are many borders.
For a premature baby born before time,
the boundaries
they are those of a transparent plastic box.
The boundary lines
they are lines of contact, they are relationships.
The skin is the boundary of our body.
Thanks to the skin
we can touch the world.
Gratitude is the border of desire.
In gratitude
desire finds depth, it becomes choice.
Night is the border of the day.
From the alternation of day and night
life is born.
The incubator, the womb, the cradle, the embrace.
They are the boundaries of the child.
The child approaches the borders to explore them,
to understand them.
And from the outside he carries them inside himself.
And with love
transforms them into horizons.
World Prematurity Day is observed to raise awareness of preterm birth
and the concerns of preterm babies and their families worldwide.
To all premature infants
To parents, to families
To doctors, nurses, NICU operators
To associations
